


Like Colors on a Wall

by lco123



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/F, Post Season 2, au-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 06:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10551436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lco123/pseuds/lco123
Summary: She doesn’t particularly want Aria to come back. But she also doesn’t particularly want Aria to leave.Paige breaks her ankle the summer after junior year. Aria starts coming by to keep her company.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is super random, but here you go. It was born out of conversations between speakpirate and I about the lack of Aria/Paige interaction, and me recently falling and spraining my ankle and having way too much time on my hands. Inspiration is a funny thing!
> 
> Also, let's assume that sometime after Paige came out, Emily filled the Liars in on their almost-relationship.

Paige breaks her ankle the first week of swim camp.

She was walking out of the pool, slipped on the steps, and _bam_. It totally sucks, and not just for the obvious reasons. Swim camp was her ticket out of Rosewood for the summer. Rosewood, where another girl Emily loved has been pulled out of the ground. Rosewood, where the cops might be murderers and the teen girls end up dead or in mental institutions.

Rosewood, where everything reminds Paige of Emily. It’s awful, how much she misses Emily, because Paige knows she has no right to. Emily is like—not a widow, exactly, but maybe the teenage equivalent of one. Which makes Paige feel like the teenage equivalent of the creepy dude who takes advantage of the town widow. Even though she wouldn’t do that, wouldn’t even dream of trying anything romantic with Emily after she returns from Haiti.

Well, maybe she’d _dream_ about it. But she isn’t going to act on it.

Anyway, it doesn’t really matter now, because Paige is back in Rosewood and Emily is still on the other side of the world. The summer stretches out in front of Paige, long and foreboding. Six weeks off the ankle, which means six weeks of her mother fretting over her and her father giving her his “you’re a disappointment” look. Paige knows it well, at this point.

She hates staying inside all day, but going out isn’t much better, not when she has to hobble around on crutches in the perpetually muggy air. Paige is in good shape, but it’s hard not to get winded moving around like that, hair getting plastered to the back of her neck as she tries to maneuver any kind of ledge. It’s especially frustrating when other people are watching. Especially when those people are Emily’s perfect-looking friends.

Paige doesn’t really know Emily’s friends that well. Sure, she knew Alison— _everyone_ knew Alison—and she’s played field hockey with Spencer a couple of times. But Paige thinks she’s probably only said one or two words to Hanna and Aria apiece. They’ve always been a close-knit, secretive bunch, and making friends has never been Paige’s strong suit. Girls like that have always put her on edge.

So it comes as quite a shock when, one balmy afternoon, the doorbell rings and Paige answers it to find Aria Montgomery standing there.

“Oh,” Paige says, and then because she can’t think of anything else, she adds, “I’m sorry it took me so long to answer the door.” She side-eyes her right foot, dangling pathetically in the air as she balances on her crutches.

Aria smiles at her and chirps, “That’s okay. Can I come in?” 

“Um,” Paige says. “Okay.” She draws the word out long enough to make it sound rude, but Aria doesn’t seem to mind, merely angling her tiny body around Paige’s own awkward one. 

Aria looks around the foyer approvingly once Paige closes the door and manages to turn around. “Nice house,” Aria comments. 

“Thanks.” Paige frowns. “Uh. Why are you here?”

Aria shrugs. It’s only then that Paige takes in her outfit: high-waisted purple shorts and a sleeveless cheetah print shirt with a weird tie around the neck. Paige suddenly feels incredibly underdressed in her cotton capris and white tank top. 

“I saw you around town,” Aria tells her. “Thought maybe you could use some company. Are your folks out?” 

 _Oh great_ , Paige thinks. _A pity visit._ “They’re at work, but I’m fine,” she insists. “Honestly. It’s a bummer, but at least I’m not missing school.”

“Can we sit?” Aria asks, nodding toward the couch.

Paige hesitates, because she doesn’t really want Aria to stay but her standing leg is getting tired. “Sure.” 

Aria waits until Paige is settled onto the couch before sitting down beside her. “What do you do all day?” Aria asks.

“I’ve been taking some online courses,” Paige tells her. “With college applications coming up, it seemed like a good idea.”

“ _Really?_ ” Aria murmurs, incredulous. “You have this whole summer to sit around and do whatever you want, and you’re taking classes?”

Paige bristles at the tone in her voice. “And what should I be doing instead?”

“I don’t know,” Aria replies. “Writing. Taking pictures. Watching movies.”

“I’m going to be in this cast for six weeks,” Paige remarks. “I’ll have plenty of time to do those things, too.”

“Hmm,” Aria hums. “I suppose so. Has anyone been by to see you?”

Aria probably doesn’t mean it cruelly, but there is an implication there: that Paige doesn’t really have any friends, that no one likes her enough to make the trip. The worst part is that it’s true.

“A couple of girls from the swim team came by,” Paige lies. “But most of them are still at camp.” That part, at least, is honest.

Aria might see through the story, because she presses her lips together and studies Paige carefully. “I’ll come by again,” she announces, as though she just decided it this moment. “And I can bring you things.”

“What kinds of things?” Paige asks.

“I don’t know.” Aria shrugs again. “Art supplies, or something. Do you like to draw?”

Paige shakes her head.

“Then ice cream,” Aria suggests. “You like ice cream, right?”

“I’m not supposed to have it,” Paige admits. She isn’t trying to be difficult, but nothing about this interaction is coming naturally.

“That isn’t what I asked,” Aria points out. “C’mon, Paige. Work with me, here.” Her expression is somewhere between mildly frustrated and genuinely hopeful, like she thinks Paige’s ankle can be cured by sheer force of goodwill.

“Mint chocolate chip?” Paige says softly.

Aria grins. “You got it.” She nods toward Paige’s phone, sitting beside her on the end table. “I don’t have your number.”

Paige feels herself start to blush, embarrassingly, because obviously Aria isn’t _asking for her number,_ not like that, but still. She’s a pretty girl—if a downright odd one—and Paige is only human.

“Give me your phone,” Aria demands. “I’ll put in my number and then you can text me and I’ll have yours.” 

Paige does as she’s told, though she’s not really sure why. She doesn’t particularly want Aria to come back. But she also doesn’t particularly want Aria to leave.

All the same, it seems like Aria is ready to go for now. She gathers her ridiculous feathered bag and starts heading toward the door, motioning for Paige to stay seated as she does.

“Mint chocolate chip?” she confirms before leaving. Paige smiles and nods, and Aria opens the door before hesitating.

“Paige?” Aria says, swiveling back around. “Watch something funny. Laughter is the best medicine.”

\--

Aria does come back, bringing with her a gigantic tub of ice cream and a disposable camera, “in case you feel like taking pictures.”

“I didn’t even know they made these anymore,” Paige says with a frown. “You know I have a camera on my phone, right?”

“Of course I do!” Aria replies. “But this is more symbolic.”

“Of dated technology?”

“I said I was going to bring you things!” Aria huffs. “Anyway, it’s fine if you don’t like it.” She moves to grab the camera off the couch between them, but Paige reaches her hands out and gently drapes them over Aria’s.

“I _do_ like it,” she insists. “I’m sorry. I should have just said thank you.”

Aria’s eyes quickly flick down to their hands and Paige wrenches hers away. She shouldn’t have done that. It was too intimate. 

But Aria’s face remains neutral. “You’re welcome,” she says quietly. “I brought you some movies, too. From the video store.” She reaches into the second paper bag beside the couch.

Paige bites down on a comment that her family has Netflix _and_ OnDemand; she hasn’t stepped foot in a video store in years. 

Aria seems really happy, and Paige finds that she doesn’t want to ruin it.

\--

“So,” Aria says on her third visit. “I heard from Emily yesterday.”

Paige’s stomach drops. She’s been waiting for Aria to bring Emily up with a mixture of nausea and curiosity ever since her first visit. The truth is, they haven’t really talked all that much, not about anything real. Paige has been more than okay with that, but all the same, she can’t help but wonder about Emily.

“How’s she doing?” Paige asks, trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible.

“She’s fine,” Aria replies. She shakes her head. “Maybe not fine. She sounded really distracted. Tired.”

“She’s working hard,” Paige muses.

“She always does.” Aria folds her hands together. “I don’t know what to say to her.”

“That makes two of us.”

Aria looks up at her, nodding in recognition. “I can’t imagine going through what she’s gone through. Losing someone like that. Twice.” She frowns. “She told you about Alison, right? About how she felt about her?”

“She did,” Paige confirms, guardedly. “How’d you guess that?”

Aria studies her for a beat. “I know that you two tried dating. Before you…” She trails off.

Paige inhales. There’s no real point in denying it now. “Well, yes. She did tell me about Alison. Although she didn’t really have to. I saw the way Emily looked at her.” _Because it’s the same way I was looking at Emily_ , Paige thinks, but doesn’t say.

Aria makes a noise in the back of her throat, like the start of a laugh minus the humor. “I didn’t see it. If I had paid more attention, maybe Emily wouldn’t have felt so alone back then.”

Paige sighs. She doesn’t really feel like walking a straight girl through the complexities of coming out, but Aria doesn’t need to be holding on to unnecessary guilt. “Being closeted is a very unique experience. And I’m not saying you can’t get it, but Emily probably didn’t want you paying attention to what she was going through.”

“I _do_ get it,” Aria says quietly. “The being closeted thing.”

Paige fights rolling her eyes. “Because of Mr. Fitz?” she asks, trying not to sound unkind. 

Aria looks up at her sharply. “You know about that?”

“C’mon, Aria,” Paige murmurs. “I’m not stupid. And even if I was, I think _everyone_ knows about you and Mr. Fitz.”

“You can call him Ezra,” Aria mutters.

“I’m sorry, but no, I can’t,” Paige replies. “And I hate to tell you this, but what you have going on with him is pretty different from being gay.”

“I know,” Aria says. “I’m not talking about him.”

It takes a second to reach Paige, and then her eyes widen. “You mean…?”

“Her name was Marina,” Aria murmurs, not quite looking at Paige. “We met in Iceland. She was American, too. From some fancy private high school where they got to study abroad for a semester.”

“And you guys…dated?”

“Something like that,” Aria continues. “It didn’t last long. We spent a couple of weeks together, mostly walking around. Going to museums, out to lunch. She was beautiful, and curious. She liked to write. And she listened to me when I told her about Alison.” 

Aria finally makes eye contact with Paige. She looks close to tears. “She kissed me, the first time. It felt amazing, so we did it again and again.” Aria sniffs. “When she left I cried for a week. But I never told anyone about her.”

“Not your friends?” Paige asks gently. “Not even Emily?”

“Not even _Ezra_ ,” Aria replies, like it holds more weight. A bizarre notion, that Mr. Fitz of all people could be a more significant presence in someone’s life than Emily Fields.

“Why did you tell me?” Paige questions.

“I don’t know,” Aria says. “I just wanted to.” She narrows her gaze in Paige’s direction. “Are you in love with Emily?”

“Maybe,” Paige answers truthfully. “But I haven’t ever been in love before, so I’m not sure what it feels like.”

“Does it feel like you can’t breathe?”

Paige considers that. When she thinks about Emily, she feels like one of those dolls with a string in the back, like someone is pulling her insides tighter and tighter until she screams. “Sometimes.”

“That’s love,” Aria tells her, knowingly. 

Paige shakes her head. Aria is probably right, but the answer is still unsatisfying. “It’s terrible.”

“It is,” Aria agrees. She leans back against the couch. She could be twelve or thirty right now, and that quality reminds Paige of Alison. “It’s also the best thing in the world.”

\--

Paige quickly learns that Aria can be incredibly persistent. She’s good at getting her way. Maybe it’s the eyes, or maybe people underestimate her because of her size. Whatever it is, she works it to her advantage.

Which is how Paige ends up with red, white and blue toenails on the 4th of July.

\--

So it's no huge shocker, but it turns out that Aria has a real love for the old sweeping romance movies.

Paige does too, though she doesn't admit it, but Aria totally catches her crying at the end of  _Breakfast at Tiffany's._

_\--_

Spencer calls Aria one day when she’s at Paige’s house. Aria immediately looks panicked, like she’s been caught cheating on a test, and she lurches off the couch to go take the phone call in the other room. Paige manages to catch a mention of the mall and an amazing sale, and it doesn’t take her long to put two and two together.

“Your friends don’t know you come to visit me,” she states when Aria slinks back into the room.

Aria bites her lip, guilt written all over her face. “No, they don’t,” she admits.

“Why not?” Paige asks. She isn’t really hurt, not yet at least, but she is confused.

“At first it seemed…I don’t know.” Aria scrunches up her nose as she sits back down. “Disloyal to Maya, somehow? Like, I was picking sides.”

“There are no sides,” Paige assures her. “Emily and I aren’t even together.” _And Maya isn’t even alive,_ she thinks darkly.

“But then,” Aria continues, “I kind of liked having something just for me. My friends and I tell each other everything.”

Paige doesn’t particularly like the way that sounds. “So I’m, like, a special toy that only you get to touch?”

“ _No_ ,” Aria insists, scooting closer and putting a hand on Paige’s elbow without hesitation. “You’re, like, my cool secret friend.”

Paige studies Aria for a moment. “Are you one of those weird people who needs to always have a secret?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like those people who always have affairs,” Paige explains. “Mr. Fitz—”

“Ezra.”

“ _Mr. Fitz_ ,” Paige says deliberately, “was your secret, but now everybody knows. Mona was A, or whatever, but now everybody knows about that, too. Am I just your latest secret?”

Aria pulls back, looking stunned. Hurt, even. “How could you say that?”

The look on Aria’s face makes Paige’s stomach feel weird and nervous, but she still has to ask her next question. “Does Mr. Fitz know that you come to see me?”

Aria blinks at her. “Ezra doesn’t know,” she says quietly. “But why does that matter?”

Paige feels a flare of anger ripple through her. “What are you even doing here, Aria?”

“I’m helping!” Aria exclaims. 

“I never asked for your help!” Paige replies fiercely, feeling the anger start to get bigger, the flames in her head and belly growing hotter. “In fact, all you’ve made me do is watch movies I don’t like and have conversations I don’t want to have and paint my toenails ridiculous colors!”

Aria lurches off the couch, her eyes filling with tears. “I thought we were friends.”

“No,” Paige grits out. “You already have friends, remember? So why don’t you go back to them and leave me the hell alone.”

Aria makes one last little noise of upset before stomping out of the house. Paige wants to slam the door but it doesn’t matter; Aria does it for her.

\--

Paige feels awful in the days after the fight. She’s still kind of mad at Aria, but mostly she’s mad at herself. It was such an overblown reaction, and Aria would have talked it through with her, if Paige would have listened.

Maybe it’s karma, in a way. Paige asked Emily to keep their relationship a secret, and now the universe is giving her a taste of her own medicine. It doesn’t feel good—fighting never feels good, even though Paige does it a lot—but the worst part is how much Paige misses Aria. They didn’t hang out that much, but Aria was right: they _were_ friends. And now Paige has gone and messed it up.

A week after the fight, she bites the bullet and calls Aria. Paige almost doesn’t expect Aria to pick up, but she finally does on the last ring.

“Hi,” Aria says in a small voice.

“Hi,” Paige echoes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t handle that well. At all."

“You didn’t,” Aria acknowledges. “But I should have been honest. I’m sorry, too.”

Paige sighs. She doesn’t want to ask her next question, but she knows she has to. “Are you…are you ashamed of me, or something?”

“Of course not,” Aria replies immediately. “I like you. A lot.”

Paige is grateful that Aria can’t see her, because she can feel her entire face get red. “Oh,” she says lightly. “I like you too.”

Aria takes an audible breath. “I broke up with Ezra.”

Paige actually chokes on her spit and starts coughing, and Aria is quiet while she pulls herself together. Finally Paige manages to get out, “Why?”

“I don’t really know,” Aria admits. Her voice has that humorless quality to it again, this time with some tears mixed in.

“Do you want to come see me?” Paige asks.

“Yeah,” Aria murmurs. “Tomorrow, okay?”

“Aria,” Paige says before she can hang up. “I’m sorry about you and Ezra.”

“Don’t be,” Aria tells her. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

\--

Coughing fit aside, Paige doesn’t let herself process the news that Aria broke up with Ezra until a few minutes after their phone call. And that, in and of itself, is troubling: the fact that she would feel the need to process this news at all. Friends generally don’t have to process the news of fellow friends’ breakups. Friends are there to provide support and a shoulder to cry on in such situations.

But then again, she and Aria have never been normal friends.

And there’s a thing that Paige can’t get out of her head, even though she knows it probably doesn’t mean anything. But there were two thoughts which Aria put perilously close to one another. _I like you. A lot._ And, _I broke up with Ezra_. Paige’s mind starts working on overdrive, linking the two thoughts together into a cohesive story: _I broke up with Ezra because I like you a lot._ Surely that can’t be what Aria meant?

And even if she did, it’s not like Paige feels that way about Aria. Of course, Aria is beautiful and charming and she smells good, but anyone can tell that. Paige likes being around her, but that’s all friendship is. Liking to be around another person. A lot of the time. Maybe all the time. 

But it doesn’t mean anything.

The internal conversation seems familiar, and as Paige is getting ready for bed she realizes why: less than a year ago, she was telling herself that same lie about how she felt toward Emily.

\--

“How are you doing?” Paige asks when Aria lets herself into the house.

Aria shrugs. “I’m not sure,” she answers. She looks a little shaky, like she isn’t quite sure how to move around in this brave new world she’s created for herself. Paige remembers feeling a similar way, not long ago.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know.” Aria comes to sit beside Paige on the couch. It feels right to have her back in her usual spot.

“You’ve had an intense week,” Paige comments.

“You’re telling me,” Aria replies, a bit ruefully. She looks up at Paige through thick lashes. “I told my friends I’m bi.”

Paige smiles warmly, trying to respond like a friend and nothing more. “That’s great. I’m really proud of you.”

“Paige,” Aria says, rolling her lips together. “I broke up with Ezra. I came out to my friends. And now I’m telling you about it.”

Paige feels her heart start to beat faster. “And…” she murmurs.

“ _And_ ,” Aria echoes, “I think that maybe the reason I kept you a secret was because on some level, I knew you meant more to me than I wanted you to.”

“Oh,” Paige breathes, feeling oddly frozen.

“ _Paige_ ,” Aria says again. “That was me making the first move.” She scoots a little closer to Paige on the couch, smiling slowly, and god, okay, Paige is officially done with denial, because the way Aria is looking at her just possibly _could_ cure her ankle. And any other ailments she could have in her life, ever. “So this is where you make the second move.”

“Oh,” Paige repeats, and then she lets herself give way to the moment, raising a hand up to Aria’s cheek and tucking some hair behind her ear. Paige’s leg is still stuck up on the table, so Aria actually has to be the one to physically move, but then Paige is leaning forward and kissing her. It’s soft and sweet but still totally sexy, and when Aria pulls away Paige doesn’t even try to cover her blush.

“I’m sorry I had to pull back,” Aria says with a grin. “It was getting hard to breathe.”


End file.
